How to arrange small and awkward interiors?
The small size, unusual shape of the room or lack of ideas for arranging an awkward living room are common problems for Poles. In this type of apartment, you should use arrangement tricks that will turn an uninteresting interior into a fashionable and practical living room. What can we do to make our apartment stylish and functional despite its many shortcomings?
An apartment like from an exclusive catalog is the dream of many of us. When looking through photos of various interior arrangements, our heads are full of new inspirations and ideas. However, when it comes time to renovate our apartment, which is small and out of order, and is located in an old building or tenement house, our arrangement fantasies disappear in the blink of an eye. Is there really no solution for such apartments? Komandor designers suggest how to turn an awkward and small living room into a stylish and functional living room.
Small space – large wardrobe
– The golden rule of every experienced architect is to use light colors in small rooms, which optically enlarge the space, creating an impression of lightness and at the same time a sense of classic elegance. In this type of rooms, a light color can be used almost anywhere, but the best effect will be achieved by painting the walls in white, ecru or pearl - comments Monika Szczęsny, interior designer at Komandor. – The use of classic, non-flashy colors will automatically fill the living room with light and give the apartment a feeling of freshness and lightness – he adds.
When renovating the living room, we should also take care of the appropriate style of furniture - in this case, it will also include light colors. A small living room should have a large wardrobe that will use the entire space from floor to ceiling. Thanks to this, we will gain valuable, previously inaccessible centimeters of the apartment to store our things. A wardrobe - preferably built-in, which will cover up some imperfections and recesses in the walls; it should not overwhelm the interior, so it is worth matching its front to the light colors of the walls in the living room. Such an arrangement will allow us to give up various types of wall units and chests of drawers, which in fact take up a large part of the living room space and unnecessarily clutter a small room. Thanks to the similar colors of the walls and furniture, our apartment maintains a consistent style and balance.
– Arranging a small living room requires selecting the right wardrobe, which should combine two features: large capacity in the smallest possible space and modern elegance. This combination is possible using the frameless Heliodor sliding door system, which subtly gives the interior a discreet touch of modernity and additionally saves the space of the apartment. Sliding doors do not steal additional centimeters of the living room during use, as is the case with hinged doors. – comments Monika Szczęsny, interior designer at Komandor. – The invisible or discreet frame of the wardrobe gives the interior a sophisticated character, and the use of the Comfort Touch closer, which works on the "touch and open" principle, affects the functional and practical character of the wardrobe – he adds.
Lots of details
The devil is in the details - this proverb becomes important when furnishing a small apartment. It is the details that give it an individual and stylish character. In bright rooms, it is worth using colorful elements that will give the interior a cozy and charming atmosphere. The ubiquitous raw, light color will be perfectly broken by red or blue accents. It is also worth placing colorful pillows on a subdued, light sofa, hanging a picture on the wall, and placing a stylish lamp in the corner - such details will break the boredom and sublime elegance and fill the interior with a charming atmosphere. However, you should remember that "too much of anything is unhealthy" and exercise moderation, thus avoiding an apartment overwhelmed by too many details. Too many unnecessary elements are the first step to making the apartment optically smaller.
Multifunctional furniture - a way to arrange an unarranged living room
An unarranged room is a real challenge even for an experienced architect. Not only the proper arrangement of furniture, but also the appropriate arrangement of space can be a huge problem, especially when the living room is connected to the dining room or kitchen. In such a situation, once the living room has been arranged, it is difficult to imagine it in another arrangement. In the case of a room whose shape resembles a trapezoid, it is very important to properly arrange the lounge furniture and select its appropriate size to the size of the room. – If our living room is small and not functional, a small corner sofa with a delicate, light texture will work best. A sofa that combines many amenities should become a mandatory element of every modern living room. Shelves or pockets built into the backrest, or practical storage compartments in the armrests are just a few solutions for a multifunctional sofa. Recently, an extremely fashionable and modern solution are modular sofas, which can be turned into a comfortable corner sofa and, if necessary, a sofa with several pouffes. This type of furniture allows you to creatively arrange a living room with a non-standard layout - says Monika Szczęsny, interior designer at Komandor.
Arrangement illusion of colors
Unfortunately, properly selected lounge furniture will not be enough for narrow rooms. Simple tricks can help in arranging such a living room and will visually expand the room. An interesting solution is to use two colors on the walls - we paint the shorter wall with a darker one, and cover the wider wall with a light color, which optically shortens the space. In turn, covering a shorter wall with wallpaper in wide, horizontal stripes automatically extends a narrow space and fits perfectly with a mirror or a light, lacquered board covering the entire longer wall. These types of materials give the apartment lightness, and their mirror reflection optically expands the space of the apartment. When arranging a narrow living room, we should also think about a TV hanging on the wall. In this way, we not only save space by avoiding the need to place a special chest of drawers inside, but also give it a modern and elegant dimension.
